The corruption problem in Outlook is a very serious issue. You must know how to deal with it. There could be several issues that you can face while working with MS Outlook. Any error message or file inaccessibility can happen. Here I am going to discuss a similar problem which is commonly faced by MS Outlook users.
I came across a query raised by a MS Outlook user where he is trying to repair a corrupt OST file but failed to do so. Before moving ahead with the possible solutions first take look upon exact query to understand the problem.
I can't repair the corrupted Outlook .ost file
My Outlook .ost file is corrupted. I tried ScanPST and Microsoft support and recovery assistant, but both failed. I downloaded Microsoft 365 again and I still get the same message, "ost file corrupted". I am using windows 10 Microsoft outlook 16.
In this case, if your OST file is corrupted then you cannot access data from that file. But don’t worry! You can repair corrupted and damaged OST files easily with the help of the following workarounds. Here we have described two complete methods to repair your Outlook OST file step-by-step.
Before we learn about how to repair an OST file; it is equally important to know how does an OST file gets corrupted?
An OST corruption is most likely to occur due to various software and hardware issues like virus attacks, synchronization issues, sudden power failure, server breakdown and many more. Also, if your OST file is orphan or old, you cannot open it in any MS Outlook profile directly. It will through up same error message.
How to Repair the MS Outlook OST File?
Manual ways to Repair Corrupt OST file in MS Outlook- Repair Corrupted OST File using Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe/Scanost.exe)
Inbox Repair Tool is a built-in application that can repair corrupt OST files in MS Outlook. You may use this Outlook Inbox repair tool to scan and fix issues in your OST file. You will find this tool in MS Office suite.
Follow the below given:
1.Open – drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE ( For Outlook 2007, 2013, 2016, or 2019 version)
2.Open Scanpst.exe/Scanost.exe to run it
3.Browse the location of the corrupt OST file and click on the Start button
4.Select the Repair checkbox and click on Start Scan.
5.Now, the scanning process begins. Once it’s done, open Outlook and checks the folder named Recovered Folders List for your data.
Even though this tool is provided by Microsoft, it is quite possible that Inbox repair tool fails to fix OST file corruption issue. In such circumstances, one should know their next plan of action.
An automated way to Repair Corrupt OST files in MS Outlook- Repair your Outlook OST file using an OST to PST Converter Software.
If you have already tried fixing OST files using manual methods but that doesn’t work then try Professional Software to repair corrupted OST file. It is an optimal way to convert & recover a damaged OST file data. OST to PST Converter tool is an advanced solution that is designed to read a corrupt OST file and convert into a healthy PST file. One can easily import this OST file into any MS Outlook profile in a hassle-free manner.
Manual vs Automated way
1.Inbox Repair Tool is capable of fixing minor OST corruption issues while Software can read highly corrupted OST files.
2.The manual way completely destroys the formatting of a message after converting OST in PST. On the other hand, OST to PST converter presents all the OST files and its data items with proper hierarchy.
3.The manual version is time consuming and require technical skills to perform. Tools is easy to use & offer free guidance from experts to perform the conversion.
Conclusion
Many people try manual methods to repair OST files but are unable to do so. I suggest you go for the automated way because it is a perfect way that truly solves the issue. You just need to follow some self-explanatory steps carefully to get the result.